The ace swimmer Katie Ledecky continues to impress us with her extraordinary abilities in swimming. Now, the United States athlete has added another feather to her historic resume.
Katie Ledecky ended up in pole position to secure the gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle final with a time of 15:30.02 on Wednesday. This is also a new Olympic record for the same category. She also set the Olympic record at the Tokyo Games as well. Now, she bettered herself to clinch the gold and broke the previous record.
This is the eighth gold medal for the athlete’s career. She is at par with Jenny Thompson for the most gold medals by an American woman. She is also tied with Thompson, Natalie Coughlin, and Data Torres for the most Olympic medals by a female swimmer (12).
Here is what she said after the race.
“I kind of let my mind wander during the race, thinking of all the people that have trained with me, just kind of saying their names in my head and thinking of them.”
In the qualification, 15:47.43 won her heat with a time of 15:47.43, an exemplary performance. In that heat, the swimmer finished 17.83 seconds ahead of her competition to get the first position.
Katie Ledecky now has a total of 12 Olympic medals including 8 gold medals. She is also the world record holder in the women’s 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle races. Apart from these, she is also the world record holder in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.
She has two more events in this Olympics. These events will give her a chance to break the record for most medals by a female swimmer. Later this week, she will compete in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay on Thursday and the women’s 800-meter freestyle on Friday.
